In the field of systems for producing, delivering and displaying multimedia content, there has been considerable development of systems and methods for enabling parental or administrative control over exactly what content may be viewed or heard on an end user device. For example, in the areas of antenna-based broadcast systems, or of satellite and cable television broadcast systems, there are technologies that allow an administrative user to configure and apply channel blocking, program blocking, and some audio content blocking to available media programs based on pre-defined ratings.
For satellite and cable television systems, a variety of remote control operated features are now available for blocking channels, programs, or offensive content detected in programs. V-chip technology is one of these implemented via a hardware chip added to the viewing terminal. The V-chip blocks content by reading the ratings embedded in television signaling data frames or recorded video and turns off the signal when the ratings exceed certain ratings-based thresholds set by the parents. V-chip technology utilizes a relatively complicated, but generally well known rating scheme including all youth (Y), youth 7 or older (Y7), general audience (G), parental guidance suggested (PG), teen 14 or over (TV14), and mature audience only (MA). Programs having these ratings may also include sub-ratings like contains violence (V), contains sexual situations (S), contains coarse language (L), and contains suggestive dialogue (D).
Some existing program blocking methods include time-based blocking wherein an administrator (typically a parent) may block channels during any specified time intervals of a programming period. There are also time allowance systems that amount to a simple timer function installed on a display terminal (television). These systems enable specification and application of viewer blackout periods and may also provide time-based viewer credits based on viewer account status wherein the viewer may initiate a viewing period, which terminates when the allowed time period expires.
More popular program-based filtering commonly associated with satellite television systems enables a ratings-based selection of programs and or channels to be blocked. Groups of programs may be blocked using this system. The Motion Pictures of America Association (MPAA) has instituted the general ratings G, PG, PG-13, R, TV-14, and NC-17, which may also be accompanied by the sub-indicators for content like V, S, L, D, and so on. While these rating indicators are generally well known in the U.S. and are prevalent in the art, many end users have some trouble remembering which type of content each symbol really covers and describes.
Another more complicated system is known in the art as TV Guardian™, which applies to audio or closed-captioning often associated with presented programs. It uses a word recognition system to detect profanity or suggestive language in real time and mutes the audio accordingly, preventing it from being heard by the viewer, while allowing accepted language to be presented. The video portion of the program filtered with TV Guardian™ is not affected.
More recently, content blocking services have been made available to personal computer (PC) users for the purpose of blocking certain websites or web-based content from being displayed by a web browser interface. Such controls are typically available through an Internet service provider (ISP) and may be available options settings provided in a browser tool bar or other control or configuration options interface. Web-based content filtering or blocking typically uses a known list of offensive vocabulary words and/or banned website universal resource locators (URLs) or other data source identifiers to filter by comparison. Therefore, if a Web site containing offensive language is accessed, the vocabulary list may be used to detect that language. Upon detection of the offensive content, the browser may be set to default display of a blank URL or to a default re-direct to an accepted URL or data source. Some anti-virus products also contain parental controls in their firewall solutions.
While all of the existing solutions work to some extent to block unwanted content, new methods of content delivery and availability of new and emerging multimedia display devices create certain vulnerabilities in the existing methods. Other limitations are also apparent to one with skill in the art of multimedia content filtering. The boundaries between data network telephony (DNT), of which Internet protocol network telephony (IPNT) is a subset, and data packet enabled satellite and cable network content delivery paths are increasingly blurred by improvements in the capabilities of transversing between networks and transport protocols when accessing or delivering content. Cellular telephones capable of accessing IP data networks are increasingly being marketed as content receiving devices capable of receiving, displaying, and storing, and sharing multimedia content. Some “bleeding edge” devices have up to 2 gigabytes of storage capability. These and other like devices, including new devices being developed, are fully multimedia capable and highly mobile and may receive content from a variety of defined networks.
Further to the above, providing multimedia content and making it available to consumers is becoming less complicated and can be achieved at increasingly lower costs using video and audio streaming. This factor, in combination with more robust access and delivery networks including a wider variety of possible receiving devices, has resulted in an explosion of available live content and introduction of non-traditional content sources, both domestic and foreign, including some that do not normally adhere to any ratings criteria. Moreover, new bleeding edge media devices are increasingly compact and mobile and may therefore not be adapted for ratings schemes of other countries, for example.
In the case of live digital multimedia content, unplanned objectionable subject matter included in the program may not be blocked because of a general, pre-assigned program rating that defines the overall program as acceptable, for example, for family viewing or the like. Likewise, there are currently no customizable solutions for filtering objectionable content from an accepted rated program leaving the individual forced to agree wholly or not to agree at all about whether a specific rating is valid from the view of the decision maker for covering the subject matter for viewing by younger children and so on.
There are several other problems in the art with conventional content blocking systems. One main disadvantage is that there are currently no universally adapted ratings systems. This may create problems because some foreign content that is not rated but that is otherwise acceptable even exemplary viewing material may be blocked by conventional systems unless the material is reviewed, rated, and re-packaged for delivery by an intermediary source. Other limitations include complicated programming steps for configuring and applying program; channel, and content blocking settings and software and hardware expenses related to end-device capabilities passed on to the end user; and the lack of more granular content blocking capabilities. Moreover, newer and emerging devices, in many cases, may not be equipped with any standardized content blocking capabilities.
What is clearly needed in the art is a distributive system and methods for enabling administratively controlled blocking of streaming multimedia content that may be applied to content received from any available content source accessible over a network including live multimedia programming in a fashion that can be universally standardized and that may be applied without taxing end user devices. Such a system would improve granularity of content filtering and would reduce much content preparation tasks at the network or feed-in level.